Hello all my awesome friends and fellow travelers, I am still reporting here in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and life has been busy and great. I finally have the blogging bug once again. But I’ve been so busy with life that it’s been hard to be consistent with this blog, but now that I have a grasp at my current adjustements of life I will finally post all the awesome places that you should all know about and see!
I will be traveling back to my hometown of San Diego to a mountain town that is an awesome getaway for everyone.
Hello my travelers! I am back in California and terribly missing Europe. I have left some of my heart in Europe and it hurts. But a way to fill the void (I know that was extremely cheesy) is by the next few weeks I will be posting glorious amounts of posts with stories, videos, and photos of my first European trip.
I had been dreaming of going to Europe my entire life and I am so happy to have experienced 2 whole weeks of it with my boyfriend by my side and of course all my family and friends in Europe. So with that being said, the best way for me to write about my first European experience (believe me, this is not my last) is best if I split everything up into little posts throughout the next few weeks.
So keep checking out my blog every week. I’ll for sure be posting my Europe content every Tuesday and Thursday. Come check out how I experienced this beautiful continent.
As for now, here are some photos from every city I visited. I can’t wait to relive the experiences I had with all of you.
My vacation started on a Tuesday. I had a fairly early morning flight and so my dad was going to take me to the airport before he went to work. My flight was on Continental Airlines, which is now United Airlines and I was flying out of the little airport called Ontario International Airport (ONT).
Spoiler alert: This was the worst flight day I had ever had in my life. Now I’m sure you know what is going to happen now.
My dad was the one who took me to the airport, it was early in the morning and we didn’t really hit any traffic on our way to ONT, which can be a miracle sometimes for So Cal traffic. And considering how much closer this airport was to us, versus Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) or San Diego International Airport (SAN), we thought with how early it was in the morning and the proximity, we can leave a little later and I’d be checked-in, security checked, and on the plane within an hour. Boy, were we wrong.
Now I’ve never been late to the airport in my life and I’ve flown from San Diego to New Jersey quite a bit, so I’m always on time. Plus, I’m a freak with being late to things so I usually end up being super early and have to wait. But I’d rather be late than sorry.
And this day, I was very sorry.
Reminder: Never underestimate wait times. Always overestimate!
I mean it too. It didn’t look too busy on the outside, or even the inside. But the line for security was a mile long and got even longer as I waited. I’ve always gone from SAN and once through LAX and their checkpoints was not as bad as ONT. Seriously, worst security checkpoint of my life and sadly, I know it’s not my last. And here I’ve devised a list of my reasons why:
1. Disorganized 2. Disorganized 3. Disorganized
How you get to the checkpoint is by taking this small escalator up and there you get your id checked and your ticket checked so you can get in line to go through the detectors. They have a small portion of the line where you go through the little maze queue and that’s really the best way to keep people in line, well that maze queue can only have so many people in it before the line ventures off into disorganization.
And hey, you guessed it, the line ventured away from the maze queue into a mile long line of people who ended up having to curve the line because you reached the other end of the airport check-in. It looked like a black Friday line at midnight. It was ridiculous. Everyone was truly so impatient, not to mention no one had any idea that the mile-long line they saw was just the security checkpoint. So there was random cutting and early morning people irritated because the line didn’t move for one whole hour.
Now I usually allocate myself about an hour to get through the security checkpoint, and that’s with being in-line and getting through A-Okay. Well that hour turned out to be just standing in the same spot as I had been an hour ago. The security line never moved.
So there I was nervous as all hell about missing my flight, one of my worst fears is missing a flight, and my departure time was getting closer and closer. I felt like I get anxiety whenever I feel late. And I had pure anxiety and was calling all my family members to tell them I might miss my flight and I didn’t know what to do.
Finally, the checkpoint line moved and I got through, slowly, of course. And I ran. Of course my gate was literally at the very end of the terminal. So I’m hauling ass, my plane was going to leave in 10 minutes and I was trying everything I could to make it.
I wasn’t the only one running too; apparently almost everyone was late to their gate. I got to my gate and the doors were closed and of course the front desk already had a line of people trying to get the next flight out.
I will give props to the workers; they were very kind and courteous and did their best to get me to my next flight. So they told me there may be a spot in a flight that was going to leave in 15 minutes, so I needed to hurry over there and see if they could squeeze in one person. I got there and of course, there was another line. I got put on standby. They told me if one person doesn’t show up they’ll let me on the plane.
I was literally the next standby person in line and bam that darn guy came right at the last minute and I was SOL. They tried once again to get me on another flight and I was put on standby. And once again, I was denied. That was two denials within a half an hour. I was frustrated.
Finally, they told me in two hours there was a semi-full flight that they can guarantee me to get on and thank god for that. Finally, after worrying my family to the point of anxiety attacks, I was finally in the air on my way to Jersey so I can get on my cruise.
I had a layover in Chicago and my connecting was supposed to be right away. Well, lucky me, it got delayed two hours. So I was stuck. I ended up falling asleep in my seat. So my usual 6 hour direct flight to Jersey turned into an all-day event. All the while my luggage was still on the other plane making its way to Jersey before me.
FINALLY, my plane took off and I landed at the Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) and there was my jersey family glad to see me as I was to see them. I was absolutely exhausted from my day of missed flights, denied standbys and delayed connections. Thank god my luggage was okay as it traveled without me for most of the day. And finally I could relax and actually start to enjoy my vacation.
Goodbye New York, time to relax on my cruise.
So moral of the story, ALWAYS allocate enough time (+an hour), to get into your flight.
After that day of headaches I vow to never miss a flight again, especially with my European trip just around the corner. I will be at the airport two hours before I have to, I don’t care. But I would rather be way early, than be so late everything gets pushed back. I was lucky I still made it that day, because if I didn’t make it to EWR by that day, I would’ve missed my cruise altogether because my ship would be sailing the very next morning. And yes, they will leave you, I’ve seen it happen.
Do you have any transportation horror stories? Share below!
Nostalgia. That’s a big thing in the digital world right now.
Throwbacks of Britney Spears’ Baby One More Time outfit #FreeBritney and seeing N*SYNC and Backstreet Boys collab together just give you all the feels.
And so when I came across this little ABC’s of Travel questionnaire, it brought me back to my Xanga and LiveJournal days and I figured, why not?
Why not have a little fun on my blog and bring back all the nostalgic feels as I make my way back into the digital media world? Why not have an enjoyable post that will bring me back to my traveling days and get me on the up and up on this blogging thing.
If you’re from Southern California you know about about the Potato Chip Rock hike in San Diego, Poway to be more exact. It’s a local favorite and one helluva hike up that’s for sure.
I’ve actually hiked up to this ‘Potato Chip Rock’ three times. While I’m by no means an expert, I’d like to think if I’ve hiked this more than once in my life that I can give at least any newcomers a bit of a guide on how to survive this uphill climb of hell to reach that wonderful photo op at the top.
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It’s amazing the many things that can change in a year, to a month, to a week, to even a day. I mean my book is going to officially be out in 5 DAYS! And I have officially been living in Arizona for 2 years this month!
This to me is so crazy.
Did I ever think that I was going to end up in Arizona? No. I did not think that whatsoever. It was the same with me never ever thinking I’d have lived in South Dakota, but I did that too.
Happy Friday and Day 7 of my BOOK LAUNCH! Ahhh! We’re halfway there to my book finally releasing! I figured since we’re halfway, why not throw in a special travel post at The Last Bookstore.
Yes, it’s THE Last Bookstore located in Los Angeles, California.
Ever wonder what it’s like to venture into a mall that’s the size of an amusement park? Well, look no further than the infamous Mall of America. And let me tell you, it’s probably even bigger than some amusement parks.
I visited the Mall of America back when I was living in South Dakota as a little mini getaway to Minnesota. You can read about my morning in Minneapolis and at the Spoonbridge and Cherry Park right here.
Now I’ve heard about Mall of America, which is located in Bloomington, Minnesota, which is not too far from Downtown Minneapolis. I’ve seen Mall of America on TV loads of time. I mean Travel Channel always would feature this place as a place to visit for any and all people. And it for sure didn’t disappoint when I visited.
Oh Canada! You are beautiful and I’ve only seen a small part of you. That’s right, I got to actually go out of the country this year and finally visited Canada! I know I still haven’t been to Mexico even though I’ve lived in California and Arizona, but yet I made it to Canada first.
And boy did I love Canada! We visited Vancouver while we visited Seattle to hang out with my two BFFs Ryan and Cody! Ryan was kind enough to drive us past the border of Washington and right into Canada!
